Caring
by Marquise de Nile
Summary: Karin calls Sasuke out on the bullshit he pulled with Sakura. Hint of KarinSaku. Post-war.


Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Summary: Karin calls Sasuke out on the bullshit he pulled with Sakura. Hint of KarinSaku.

Note: This was written for a tumblr prompt by anonymous, but I liked it so much, I decided to post it here.

Rating: T for swearing.

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**Caring**

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Karin had a long-standing policy of not butting in other people's business. During her years as Orochimaru's follower, this golden rule served her well. It was always better not to ask. It reduced the chance you would start caring about someone other than yourself. There was simply no reason to befriend people that may be as well dead the next morning.

Ever since she had left the Sound with Sasuke and Team Taka, Karin cared more and more than in all the years before taken together. Meeting the Konoha ninjas, who all seemed to wear their feelings on their sleeves, then living with them after the war ended, only amplified the process.

Karin's heart was growing, expanding with every new person who entered it through the unlocked door. These people that gave her so much – a new home and a safe future – she wanted to protect them too. She wanted to repay the debt of kindness she owed to them.

And there was one person she owed more than anyone. Karin owed her life, her faith and her resolve to this person.

Haruno Sakura. A kunoichi who saved her from death by Sasuke's hands, who gave her the hope and strength to go on, who restored her faith. A woman who once shared her pain and struggle of loving this cold as ice man.

Karin wanted to repay her the most.

That is why she couldn't stand seeing the sadness lurking in Sakura's dull green eyes, the wariness and distrust and a little bit of relief as she was ignored, turned away from and rejected over and over again by the same man. Karin understood Sakura's suffering so acutely, she felt her own heart lurching in sympathetic hurt.

That is why she couldn't be silent about this anymore.

"When are you going to apologize?" she asked sharply, giving one last look to Sakura's retreating back. The medic had just wanted to say hello, but Sasuke had pushed her away with his usual cold attitude.

"I already did, when we met up during the war. Don't you remember, Karin?" Sasuke looked at his teammate, confused.

"Not to me. _Sakura_." She met his eyes head on with a fierce glare.

Sasuke stilled. She knew exactly what he was doing. He was drawing into himself, hiding his thoughts behind the thick walls of practiced indifference.

"That's none of your business," he said with an air of dismissal.

"Well, you did pretty much the same thing to me and you had no problems with apologizing. So what keeps you from saying a simple sorry to Sakura?"

Sasuke's brow furrowed in annoyance.

"Karin. Drop it."

Oh, now he was commanding her? Did he think they were still in Taka and he was her leader? Karin's lip curled in a sneer. Things weren't like before. They changed just like she did.

The old Karin wouldn't have interfered in something that didn't concern her and her interests. She wouldn't have cared about Sasuke stepping all over someone's feelings. She wouldn't have even thought about questioning his decisions.

But the new Karin had no qualms about calling out Sasuke's bullshit when she saw it.

"Don't you think you owe this to her? She cared for you all this time. She even fought an Akatsuki member so she could find you. I saw the scar! She could have died, but she still fought, just to see you. And what did you do to repay her?" Karin's voice rose in pitch. Talking about all this was making her mad. "You betrayed her! You tried to destroy her village and kill her teammates! You wanted to take away everything she holds dear! You almost killed her in cold blood! If you weren't stopped, she would have really died!" Karin wasn't sure that in the end she was talking only about Sakura, but no matter. She blinked away the dumb tears that came to her eyes unbidden. She had to finish this. "And you know what, Sasuke?" she hissed roughly, leaning closer to him. "After all this shit you put her through, she still cares for you!"

Karin stepped away, delighting in his positively stricken expression.

So he wasn't a complete block of ice. Good for him.

"Sasuke," she called for his attention again and his eyes snapped up from the ground to her face. "If you can't admit that you fucked up and say a small fucking sorry to her, then you are a pathetic excuse of a human being. And that's not the Uchiha Sasuke that I want to know."

Satisfied, she pushed her glasses up on the bridge of her nose and turned to leave.

"Why do you even care?" The question barely reached her ears and she wouldn't have bothered to acknowledge it if not for the genuine perplexity it carried. For the first time, Sasuke took actual interest in her motivations.

Karin looked over her shoulder and decided to give him an honest answer.

"Because, unlike you, I'm not weak. I am strong enough to admit my feelings. And I care about Sakura, more than you can possibly imagine.

"Be careful or I might just take her from you."

And then Karin departed, wearing a devilish smirk on her face.

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**The End**

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_AN: Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed! :)  
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